Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska the Novena and Chaplet of Divine Mercy. St. Faustina prayed the chaplet almost constantly, especially for the dying, and the Lord urged her to encourage others to say it, too, promising extraordinary graces to those who would recite this prayer.

The chaplet can be said anytime, but the Lord specifically asked that it be recited as a novena, especially on the nine days before Divine Mercy Sunday, the Feast of Mercy. And He promised, “By this Novena (of Chaplets) I will grant every possible grace to souls” (796).

We can pray this Novena of Chaplets for our own personal intentions, or we can offer it together with the Novena to Divine Mercy for the daily intentions dictated by our Lord to St. Faustina:All mankind, especially all sinnersThe souls of priests and religiousAll devout and faithful soulsThose who do not believe in God and those who do not know ChristThe souls of those who have separated themselves from the ChurchThe meek and humble souls and the souls of little childrenThe souls who especially venerate and glorify His MercyThe souls who are detained in purgatorySouls who have become lukewarm

This year, I would like to invite each of us to take part in this beautiful devotion to Divine Mercy for the intentions listed above, as well as for your own personal intentions. Before Holy Week, there will be a Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet pamphlet (with information about how to pray the chaplet) placed near the entrances of each of our churches. Please take one to use at home on your own and/or when we pray it together in church after Masses leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday.

After the Good Friday Service at St. Michael’s, I will invite those wishing to pray the Novena and Chaplet to remain in their pews. We will then continue to pray the Novena and Chaplet communally after the daily Masses of Easter Week (Tuesday, March 29th thru Friday, April 1st). The other days (Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday, Monday, March 28th, and Saturday, April 2nd) you would pray the Novena and Chaplet on your own at home.

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Pastor's ColumnPosted here is the weekly column featured in the bulletin of Saint Mary, Saint Michael & Saint Kilian parishes.